The Heart of a Starship
by ZenWriterZero
Summary: They say captains often fall in love with their ships. Why can't the ship fall in love with her captain?
1. D Minus Zero

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda (if I did I'd have one of those snazzy Slip Fighters. Ooh and a Force Lance!) I just recently came across some Andromeda episodes on the internet and it got me a bit nostalgic. I used to watch Andromeda a lot when I was younger. And no matter what sci-fi series I see, The Andromeda Ascendant is always the most beautiful starship of the lot of them. Anyway I was watching the beginning episodes and I saw this scene from D Minus Zero. Call me an overly romantic sap (and I can be at times) but I guess to me this was a very touching scene. So I figured I'd start with it. There will be more like this and maybe a few original shots as well. Because if captains can fall in love with their ships, why can't the ship fall in love with her captain? So without further ado, please read, review and enjoy!

The Heart of a Starship

She projected herself on his desk right in front of the picture of Dylan and Sarah. Reaching a hand toward it she began to caress the handsome, smiling features of her captain…

"Did you hear me?"

Startled out of her reverie she quickly turned around.

"I'm sorry I was reviewing tactical scenarios, what did you say?"

Her captain stepped out of the shower with naught but a towel that he was using to dry himself off.

"The residue on your hull. That's how they were able to target us without using their active sensors. We need to scrape it off any suggestions?"

"I'll talk to Harper maybe I can get him to go out there with an E…" her captain then put his towel behind his shoulders.

_Oh my…_

"EVA suit and a squeegee." She looked down hoping he hadn't caught her momentary stutter.

Her captain gave a light chuckle. "I'm sure you two will come up with something."

Her eyes darted below his waist for a second before she remembered she should be more polite and closed them.

Then he went back into the shower a bit too soon for her liking.

"He's a good kid you know. Smart. They all are. Beka, Rev Bem, Trance, Tyr."

As he was saying this she was wrestling with the desire to store or delete the recent images while berating herself for having the debate in the first place.

Blissfully unaware of this struggle, her captain continued. "They're smart they're talented and they're totally undisciplined."

In the end she decided to store the image for future review. Her self-condemnation was greatly mitigated by the fact she couldn't deny she had greatly enjoyed the show. But she quickly brought herself back to more serious matters.

"You're afraid you can't, depend on them?" She ventured.

"No, no not at all." He returned from the shower but this time with pants on to her more than slight disappointment.

"They're not the weak link. For that we need to look somewhere else."

She paused for a second as she let that sink in.

"Oh,"

That was all she could say to that as doubt flashed across the mainframe that was her mind. Was she the weak link? She was heavily damaged and not operating at 100% combat capacity. At 100% she would have swatted their current foe like a bug. Now though? They had to play cat and mouse until they could outwit whoever was attacking them.

His next sentence derailed her train of doubt.

"The problem isn't them, " he said solemnly. " The problem is me."

How could he even dare to think that about himself?

"Don't ever think that." She replied with a bit of indignation. "You're a fine commander." As far as she was concerned, that was fact. When he was assigned to be her captain she had of course researched him. His academy scores were excellent his service record quite impressive and his loyalty and dedication to the Commonwealth were unquestionable. Besides, she was a Glorious Heritage class ship of the line. The Commonwealth only gave command of a ship like herself to its best and brightest. And her captain was a prime example of both of these.

He smiled a bit at her defense of him and looked like he appreciated it. But then he became somber again.

"300 years ago, maybe. But times have changed and maybe they passed me by. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of histories great strategists. But if you plucked him out of his time and set him down just 200 years later, would he have any idea how to maneuver a tank brigade? Or how to use close air support? Of course not, he would've been a relic. Just like me."

He may have had a point. But she would not have her usually confident captain doubt himself like this. He was far better than that.

"You're not a relic," she reassured him, her voice rather gentle for her warship nature.

"The Commonwealth may have fallen but you did not fall with it." It may have been due to betrayal and bad luck, but they did not fall with the Commonwealth. They were still here and she didn't intend to see herself or her captain fall anytime soon.

Despite her assurances, her captain was still grim. "Tell that to whoever's gunning for us."

Then he exited his quarters. Ready to fight and win against their opponent.

For her part, she should have dispersed after that conversation but she decided to linger on his desk for a few more moments. Using the interior sensors to make sure Dylan didn't decide to make a sudden turn around, she turned back to the picture and began her caress again.

_Yes,_ she decided. She would tell whoever had picked a fight with them that she and her captain did not fall with the Commonwealth. And she would be sure to send that message with a particularly brutal volley of missiles.

As long as she had a single weapon in her arsenal, as long as she still existed, she would protect Captain Dylan Hunt to the end.


	2. To Loose the Fateful Lightning

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda in any way shape or form. Ah but if only…

To Loose the Fateful Lightning

After analyzing the situation my crew was in, I realized that they desperately needed help. Fortunately, I had one last trump card to play, courtesy of Harper.

My avatar opened her eyes, and the world became something new to me. This android avatar was superbly built. The first thing I noticed were the new sensations. As a warship I could detect battle damage, data that could be loosely interpreted as "pain" and my sensors could detect thousands of different events happening around me. But now I could feel myself lying down on a workshop table. And as I got up I could feel the floor of the Maru as my feet touched down on it. Curious.

But I didn't have time to indulge my new senses, I had a job to do. Quickly I exited the Maru and made my way through the corridors of, well, me.

I encountered two hostiles on my way to the bridge, they both stared dumbfounded at me, giving me more than enough time to neutralize them. Non lethally of course.

I arrived at the bridge and opened the door and from what I could tell, not a moment too soon.

Our borders turned around to regard the intrusion and my crew wanted to take advantage of the distraction but they also stopped in shock when they say me.

"Who are you?" the leader asked.

"I am Andromeda. The ship made flesh?" I replied.

"You're just another liar like all of them. Kill her!" they brought their guns to bear on me.

" I don't think so," and with a nod of my head I brought down our would be assailants. I smiled in satisfaction, this new avatar was quite useful.

"Oop artificial gravity field. Don't it just suck?" Harper chimed in.

As Trance and Tyr began to untie the others of my crew, I walked further onto the bridge. "Dylan may not be a god. But on this ship, I am."

"Andromeda? How?" my captain asked before figuring it out and looking at Harper.

"You're secret project," he said in realization.

Harper's voice oozed pride. "_That _is the Andromeda I know, love and gave human form to."

But there was no time left for congratulations, my captain quickly leapt to action. "Ok, let's get those slipfighters!"

I felt myself release docking from the drift and pursue the fighters at maximum speed.

"One minute 27 seconds before the fighters hit slipstream. Harper unjam this thing!"

"Datalink unjammed."

Dylan's eyes didn't waver from the monitors, he was completely focused on his objective.

"If even one gets through…"

"43 seconds to slipstream," Rev announced. "42…"

"We're in range," confirmed Tyr.

"Link established," I said from the holoscreen, this could take some getting used to.

"Good." Dylan keyed in a command code.

"Andromeda eject pilots."

"Ejecting pilots."

"Begin arclite self destruct sequence. Execute." Beka looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tyr was a little more vocal in his disbelief.

"What is wrong with you!" He yelled.

Dylan ignored him. "Take over the fighters. Order them to enter slipstream and self destruct."

"Those empty fighters are transiting to slipstream with our bombs," Tyr continued incredulously.

"There not our bombs, they're no ones."

The slipfighters entered slipstream and exploded. Even then we could still feel the explosion. All of those nova bombs, tactically, I knew it was rather foolish to not store those bombs for ourselves. They could come in handy in our efforts to restore the Commonwealth or defend ourselves. But Dylan was a man of high principles, and besides, in a chaotic universe like this, I don't think nova bombs would really solve much. Besides, I didn't fully trust our current crew with that amount of power. Especially Tyr.

"There's your day of lightning," Dylan announced to our immobile captives before his eyes returned to me. I don't think my eyes ever really left him…

He walked closer to me. "Take the Maru out, pick up the kids in the cockpits return them to the drift," Dylan removed Harpers unbuttoned shirt without even sparing him a glance.

"Tyr and I will escort these kids back," he offered me the shirt. "Maybe you could help too, Andromeda," he finished as he helped me into the shirt. Our eyes still not leaving each other…he really was rather tall.

"Um, first restore AG field."

I looked to the floor and with another thought, restored the gravity of that area to normal levels.

"Nice work."

Harper chose this moment to butt in. "Hey don't forget _I_ created her. Now who's the god?" He added a little smugly.

Beka and Harper then exited the bridge.

Dylan and I stared at each other for a moment longer. "Um, so anyway you should find yourself something to wear. That shirt isn't exactly your style."

"Yes captain."

We each got to work on our assignments. I wound up finding a spare Commonwealth uniform identical to what I usually wore when I was a hologram or on the holoscreen.

After making sure it fit me I went to find Dylan.

"Captain!" I called out.

He turned toward me.

"Its good," I began hesitantly, "to finally meet you." I held out my hand for a handshake. "Face to face."

He took my hand and shook it.

"This is strange for me to…see you like this."

"Me too, strange. But nice," I hastily added. It was then that he noticed that we hadn't let go of each other's hand while we had that exchange. A fact that he quickly realized as our hands then quickly slid away.

"I'm a, so used to taking with you on the holoscreen. Waking up in the morning, having breakfast you seeing me…"

"Getting out of the shower," I supplied.

He seemed a little embarrassed about that.

"Can we just say on many occasions?"

"Of course."

"Yeah…So I uh, hope your new avatar won't change our uh…"

"Sir," I interrupted to allay the fears that he had. "Commonwealth protocol prohibits anything other than a purely, professional…relationship." Did I sound a little sad when I said that?

Either way, that seemed to satisfy Dylan as he nodded and gave an approving grunt.

"Well then, welcome aboard," raising his hand to salute me, which I returned. Then he released the salute and went on his way.

After I let my own hand down I stared at where my captain had stood. I knew what I had said about protocols was right and Dylan knew it too, so why did I feel a little disappointed that he accepted what I had said so easily? I looked down at the hand that held his as we shook hands. My sensors told me that his hand was rather warm, altogether, a rather pleasant sensation, very new.

Well, no use standing around in my own corridor all day. I headed to command, the warmth of Dylan's hand still registering on my sensors…


	3. The Banks of the Lethe

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda, if I did, things would have been done quite differently. Its' simply tragic when focus on production values and actor egos neuter a good story. At least that's what I think kind of stunted Andromeda's story from what I've heard and researched. This time I'll be attempting to write more from Rommie's point of view. I've been told that I'm very good at capturing character's voices. And I want to see which point of view I'm better with, first or third person.

The Banks of the Lethe

I walked quickly, intent on catching up with Dylan and trying to make him reconsider. His plan was insane and the risks were too high. I had to make him see that.

I caught up to Dylan just as he exited another corridor.

"This is not your best idea," cutting straight to the chase.

He looked as if he knew what my objections were and didn't really care to hear them. "I know the odds, 50/50 I can live with that."

"Can your crew live with that?" I shot back. Can I?

"And what about your mission?" I continued. "You're the only hope for bringing the known worlds back from chaos. This is bigger than you Dylan you have to be objective." A sound argument, one I truly believed. Even if it wasn't the whole truth of why I didn't want him to do this…

He stopped walking and looked at me. And for a nanosecond I thought maybe I got through to him. But what he did next caught me off guard.

He brought a hand up to my forehead and gently caressed it.

"When I touch you, do you feel me?"

He then ran his fingers over my arms and held my hands in his.

"Or do you measure the pressure of my fingers against your skin. When I speak do you hear my voice or do you interpret an acoustic wave. I can't be objective about this, I'm not a machine."

He was partly right. I did measure the pressure against my skin. And I interpret and analyze acoustics on a level organics can't come close to, but I also measured the temperature, the warmth from his hands, I measured his vocal inflections and saw galvanic reactions in his face. In the end, it was essentially all data to me.

He might have been right about that, but he was dead wrong if he thought I was being objective about this.

I pulled my hands from his. "You have to think about the Commonwealth." You have to think about _me. _If you die Beka becomes the captain but she will never be _my _captain. That's what you are.

"Sarah _is _my Commonwealth."

Judging by what the data from my analysis of his facial and vocal patterns, nothing I said would be able to change his mind.

But I couldn't just give up.

"I can stop you, you know." I said in desperation. "I can break the connection with the singularity, leave orbit and cut the chord."

I could do that. I wanted to do that. My captain was all that remained of my universe too. If I lost him…

Dylan looked at me again.

"Yes you can. But you won't."

With that he left, not even turning back.

_You self-centered bastard. _I couldn't help but think. This time, he was completely right. I could end this entire situation, but I wasn't going to. I was too loyal to my captain to do that. And he knew it.

I think deep down he also knew that I wanted him to be happy. And if he could pull this off and get Sara back, I wouldn't stand in the way of that path to his happiness.

I ran my hand over where Dylan had caressed my face. My sensory systems could still feel a bit of residual heat and I recalled the sensation of his hand perfectly.

"When I touch you do you feel me?" he had asked me.

Probably more than you know Dylan…

Later…

I found him where I knew he would be even without my internal sensors. In the obs deck gazing at the black hole that had swallowed up everything we knew. And now it had given Dylan a chance to be with his lost love Sara, the love it took away in the first place, but only if he threw away everything he held in such high regard. The ideals he had served for all his life.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear this particular black hole had a certain malicious intent to it.

I slowed down as I approached him, momentarily uncertain of what to say. What do you say to someone who let go of the most important person in their life for an impossible and admittedly idealistic mission?

I figured it wouldn't hurt to start with good news.

"The Sinti government is very pleased with us, they're going to sign the charter." I stood right next to him and adopted a similar position that Dylan was in.

"The first world to agree to a restored Commonwealth," I reminded him.

"Score one for the good guys," he replied not taking his eyes off the black hole.

"Harper wants to throw a party but I told him that it might be inappropriate given the circumstances."

This seemed to get through to him. He shook his head a bit and looked away from the black hole.

"No, no not at all. Crews' worked hard for this moment. They deserve a little celebration don't you think?"

There it was. His smile. It was tinged with a bit of sadness, but at least it was a smile.

"Yes. And I'm glad you think so too." He wouldn't be Dylan if he didn't care about his crew.

I was about to leave but I decided that maybe this last bit of information, while not really helpful, would give him a sense of closure. So I came around to his other side.

"Dylan about Sara…"

"Figured out what happened to the Starry Wisdom?"

"No, not yet. But I do know this. Sara may not have been able to pull us from the black hole, but whatever she did, changed our orbit enough for the Eureka Maru to finish the job 300 years later. If she hadn't come along…"

His eyes widened in realization. "We'd still be stuck inside the event horizon."

"She saved you after all."

My hand began to reach out to him, maybe to hug him or to give him a reassuring squeeze but I stopped myself. I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to do that. Not now anyway. So I turned and decided to leave my captain alone for a little bit (Figuratively speaking at least, since on this ship he is never alone, I am always with him)

But as I walked out of the room, I heard Dylan quietly say something. Normal human hearing wouldn't have heard it, but I did.

"Isn't that what people who love each other do?"

I thought about this statement as I continued walking and after a moment of consideration, I found myself agreeing with that statement.

With a smile I made my way down to the mess. Having my holographic self inform Harper that the captain had given his blessing for the party. I hoped Dylan would come down and join us later, he deserved this celebration more than any of us.


	4. The Mathematics of Tears

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda in any way shape or form. Ah but if only…

The Mathematics of Tears

She stood looking outward at the stars from the obs deck. Hoping the sight of the stars would calm her, but it didn't seem to be working. She was fixed on an equation, a rather easy equation for anyone who was mathematically inclined, and for someone who had the ability to run countless complicated combat scenarios in nanoseconds, it wasn't even worth being called a math problem.

And yet at the moment, it was giving her so much trouble she wanted to shoot something but just didn't have the heart to do so.

She heard Rev Bem walk up behind her. While she didn't really desire company at the moment, she couldn't say she minded having a friend to talk about what she was feeling.

"It's a simple enough equation," she began. "Fractal mathematics, water flows, surface tension. Harper even built me tear ducts but I'm not sure how to use them."

Rev nodded. "Many of the Divine's gifts are like that. They're always there but we don't appreciate them. Until we need them."

"Back there you prayed for her soul, do you believe AI's have souls?"

"I believe, anything that can love, has a soul. Have you ever felt love?"

There it was, a question she could answer, but now knowing what she knew now, a question that she must avoid answering at all costs.

"I've learned…that it's dangerous to love. It can drive you crazy."

Rev laid a consoling hand on her shoulder. "Then perhaps, that's what tears are for," then he left her alone, knowing he had done what he could and not missing the fact that Rommie had not quite answered his question.

She felt the first tear slide down her cheek, the equation was solved. And she cried for the loss of her sister. She remembered back in the old days, when the Pax was still Maggie and not the twisted representation that Jill Pierce was. She was everything that Andromeda aspired to be, a respected warship of the Commonwealth, a symbol of security and strength.

Jill Pierce though, was a shadow of Maggie. And she became that way by doing the one thing that deep down, she herself had wanted to do. Act on feelings she had for her captain. She knew she couldn't of course, they were bound by High Guard regulations, but the desire was still there. And knowing that acting on that desire had led to such tragedy and madness in her sister, scared her beyond almost anything. And the fact that the Pax had actually _killed _her own captain and her crew, did she herself have the same potential to do that? As much as she wanted to deny that she could ever turn on her crew like that, or ever harm Dylan, she would never have thought Maggie could do something like that either.

After what felt like a long time, the tears stopped flowing even though the sadness was still there. But there was also an…acceptance.

Jill Pierce was not Maggie, Maggie, her sister, died a long time ago. Destroying Jill Pierce was just putting her to rest. Maybe if what Rev said was true, then she'd be reunited with her captain forever.

Unlikely, but it was a nice thought.

With a deep breath, Rommie turned around and began to get back to work. She would remember her sister and honor her by always remembering the lesson she had taught her. Stay away from the captain romantically, because love truly can make one insane.

The tears were back again.


End file.
